About Me

My name is Pedro Barbudo and I am accredited professional Surf coach with Level III by the Portuguese Surfing Federation and Level II by ISA. Since 2000 that teaching and coaching athletes of all levels and ages has been my path, for which I am deeply thankful for.

Throughout 37 years of surfing and 25 years of teaching and coaching, I have continuously developed work in various areas in surfing and coaching, with excellent results both in the satisfaction and evolution of the athletes / surfers with whom I worked, as well and as in the competitive results achieved with the Portuguese National Team for 10 years, and some Junior divisions national titles along the way.

My mission is, has always been, to help surfers to surf better and to improve their relation with the ocean and to the wave itself, in the never ending process of improving technique, whatever for more fun or for some competition results/career.

I created Coach Surf Online in 2012 with the goal of helping surfers to progress by video analysis. Initially the product was a video report (3 to 5 min) edited by me (3 hours each to edit!!!) with the main technical points for the surfers to work on their free surf. These videos were limited in the information to pass and didn’t allow the interaction (questions/answers) necessary for a full understanding of the information and details.

Because of this, and with the development of technologies, from 2017, I changed the final product for an online session with screen sharing where we, both parties, see all the waves in slow motion and explanatory drawing. This makes the productivity and quality of the session immensely higher than before. The final report also came to give the extra “push” by having it on the phone to remember goals and details before you hit the next surf.

Pedro Barbudo

37 years of surfing, 25 years teaching and coaching surfers.

By always helping surfers to better themselves, I’ve set has my mission to enhance their surfing skills and improve their relation with the ocean, either to experience more fun or to provide competition or career results.

Curriculum

I am a living being from this since 1974 and a Surfer since 1988. Since then I have always been dedicated to surfing as a passion and a way of life. Since 1990 I have been involved in competitions and various surf paths that life has given me.

I started to compete at age 16 and stopped at 31, having as a career several years in the Portuguese National Top 16 and won the title of 1st National University Champion while studying engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (1996). Some good number of years later (2017), I came to win again the National Champion title in the masters division at my 42 years old.

In 2000, I founded Guincho Surf School and, since that time, I have been training surfers in various ways as a teacher and coach with some merit results in the field (6 times junior national coach champion).

From 2004 to 2014 I was Nacional Portuguese Coach for the Surfing Federation. In these 10 years, for 3 times I was Coach European Champion and many vice champion titles (seniors and juniors).

I have always invested in my technical and academic training throughout this time, namely Level III Trainer courses by FPS (Portuguese Surfing Federation), Level II of the ISA (International Surfing Association), a Post-Graduation in Surfing by the Faculty of Human Motricity and a course of Sport Coaching & Communication.

Since 2018 I´m the Coach of the Russian National Surfing Team with the mission of helping the best Russian surfers to improve and do their best representing their country in their beginning steps on in the International Competitions. This function is now on hold dued to international conflict.

As a Master Coach, I had the opportunity to work in Latin America, namely Guatemala and Ecuador in 2012/13.

Since 2014 I am Master Coach of surf coaches in courses and post graduations at the University Lusófona in Lisbon, Porto and Algarve, in level I and II of the European Coaches Program.

From the year 2021, I started mastering surf coach courses in Russia (Kunashir, Kaliningrad, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Saint Petersburg, Sri Lanka and Bali), recognized by the national sport education program .

In 37 years of surfing, 16 competing and 25 years teaching and coaching, I have in my path more than 46 international surf trips in which I was responsible for training groups and/or teams for participation in events Worldwide.

Highlights:

1st National University Champion 1995
Top. 16 National between 1996 and 2004
Coach National Champion Juniors Under 16 and sub 18 Girls, 2004
Coach National Champion Juniors in Sub 18 and Sub 18 Girls, 2005
Coach National Champion Juniors in Sub 20, Vice in Sub 18 and Vice Sub 18 Girls, 2007
Coach National Champion Juniors Under 18 Girls 2011
Coach National Team European Champion in Seniors, 2005, 2007 and 2011
Coach National team European Vice-Champion in Juniors, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
National Champion Surf Master (+ 40) 2016

Surftrips: Indonésia, Tahiti, Indonésia, Maldives, Galápagos, New Zeland, China, Japan, Russia, Índia, Sri Lanka, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Marrocos, Senegal, Madeira, Açores, Ireland, England, Channel Islands, Brasil, E.U., Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicarágua, Panamá, Costa Rica, Equador, Perú, France, Switzerland and Spain.

Hobbies : Travelling, reading.

Favorite waves : Ponta Preta, Huayne, Paul do Mar, Lagundry Bay, HT’s, Macarronis, Coxos, Sto. Amaro, Bolina, Casinha de gelados, Pontão and Guincho.

Favorite maneuvers : Barrels !!!!! … ..and a good carve with a kick tail slide with the fins pointing to beach

Inspirations : In terms of surfing and over the years, Curren, Potter, Taylor Knox, Matt Archbold and obviously … Dane Reynolds and Slater. In other fields, and among others, Lobsang Rampa, Buddha, Krishnamurti, Osho, Alan Watts, Sadhguru and Eckhart Tolle have guided me as inspiration in the way I surf my life.